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Over USD 40,000 Raised to Save Icelandic Goat

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Over USD 40,000 Raised to Save Icelandic Goat

Casanova, one of the farm’s goats which starred in television series Game of Thrones. Photo: Háafell goat farm on Facebook.

A campaign on crowd-funding site Indiegogo has raised over USD 40,000 (EUR 30,000, ISK 4.5 million), half of its target amount, in an attempt to save the last remaining commercial goat farm in Iceland.

The Háafell farm in Borgarfjörður, West Iceland, is facing foreclosure and will have to send its roughly 400 goats to the slaughterhouse if it doesn’t raise USD 90,000 before September 14.

The farm’s owner, Jóhanna B. Þorvaldsdóttir, says the USD 90,000 is necessary to “allow the family to remain on their farm, keep the goats safe and healthy, and begin the journey of creating a sustainable farm by developing products such as cheese, cashmere, and meat that will provide a viable income,” as stated on the indiegogo webpage.

At the time of writing, 819 people have donated to the campaign, with amounts ranging from USD 10 to USD 1,000.

As the farm is home to roughly half of the Icelandic goat stock, the species will be at an even greater risk of extinction should the farm close.

According to the conservation agreement signed by Iceland at the UN Rio Convention in 1992, the Icelandic government is required to protect the Icelandic goat from extinction.

As reported earlier this month, a task force appointed by the Icelandic Ministry of Agriculture submitted proposals on how the Icelandic goat stock can be supported, including immediate increased funding.